UAS News

Alaska Native Cultures Film Series

Juneau, Alaska
Date of Press Release: Sept. 14, 2011

Alaska Native Languages & Alaska Native Studies at UAS is pleased to announce the Alaska Native Cultures Film Series for 2011. This series accompanies the Alaska Native Cultures course and is free and open to the public. Our films will look at the major Alaska Native cultural groups, and will be followed by a short discussion. Each of these films offers a unique look at the diversity of Alaska Native Cultures, and presents wonderful content that is important to understanding the unique and varied cultures of the original people of this great land. All films will be shown every other Thursday, starting September 22, 7:30 p.m. in the Egan Lecture Hall on the UAS Auke Lake Campus.

The series starts Sept. 22 with Aleut Story, the incredible, untold story of Aleut Americans’ decades-long struggle for human and civil rights. In 1942, as World War II invaded Alaska, Aleut Americans were taken from their homes and removed to abysmal government camps 1,500 miles away. An estimated 10 percent of the men, women and children sent to the camps would die there, and as the Aleuts prayed for deliverance, “friendly forces” looted their homes and churches in the Aleutian and Pribilof islands.

Subsequent films:

October 6Finding Their Own Dance: Reawakening Alaskan Alutiiq Arts

October 20The Drums of Winter

November 3Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner)

November 17Make Prayers to the Raven

December 1Haa Shagóon, Surviving Sounds of Haida, Carved from the Heart

The organizer of the series is new Assistant Professor of Native Languages, Lance A. Twitchell. “For far too long, the voice that told about Alaska Native people and their respective cultures has been an external one,” said Twitchell.

"This film series seeks to find the internal voice and showcase parts of Alaska Native Cultures from the perspective of Alaska Native people. This is an important event for our campus and our community, and I hope that we can gather a lot of people to view and enjoy these important films."